C.V.
Narasimhan's professional career started in 1945 with a brief
stint in academics as a teacher of Mathematics at the university level in
South India
, and was later defined distinctly as a police
officer at the commanding levels of the Indian police system for over 35
years.

2. He joined the Indian
Police Service in 1948 as a direct recruit, through
the first national competitive examination held after India
became a sovereign nation in 1947 with a population of about 350 million. He
stood first in this entrance exam and also had the distinction of winning the
President’s revolver prize for the ‘All round best cadet’ at the end of
training in the
National
Police
Academy
at
Mount
Abu
in 1949.

3. He functioned in senior
posts in the police in the State of
Tamil Nadu
and also under the Govt of India, and rose in the hierarchy, pioneering several
police measures to reshape the colonial police system to suit the needs of
independent democratic republic
of
India.

4. In the world of governance where personal ambitions, political favors
and maneuvering often characterize the performance of many, C.V. Narasimhan stood
out and stood tall as a beacon of highest personal integrity and professional
commitment to the business of policing for
India
. His unwavering dedication to the
development of an effective police force at all levels – from the local
village to the entire nation – won him many friends and admirers, both inside
and outside the establishment, and from the media and public at large.

5. The defining moments in his distinguished career were in 1974
when he was posted as Joint Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of
Home Affairs, a prestigious post to which officers of the Indian Administrative
Service alone had hitherto been posted, in
1977 when he was posted as Director of CBI, the topmost police posting in the
country and later when he functioned
as Member-Secretary of the National Police Commission (NPC) in the rank of
Secretary to the Govt of India, and prepared eight monumental reports in
1979-1981 formulating fundamental reforms for the police to change over to the
needs of a developing democracy.

6. He was awarded the Indian Police Medal for meritorious service
in 1964 and the President’s Medal for distinguished service in 1972. The
Rotary Club of Madras Silver Beach presented
him with the ‘ For the sake of honour award ’ in 1998.

7. Some notable achievements and events in C.V. Narasimhan’s 35 year
service in the Indian police are mentioned below:

1957 - The security scheme
drawn up and implemented by him in Ramanathapuram area in Tamil Nadu for the
national general elections was hailed as a ‘model’ and later adopted
in other areas as well.

1965-66 - He organised a separate Crime Branch in each district
within his jurisdiction exclusively to handle crime investigations to the satisfaction of
the victims of crime. This was an
innovation at a time when most of the police personnel were drawn away by
‘public order’ work in the field.

1967 - In Trichy he introduced a new methodology for
ascertaining an objective and critical assessment of police performance as
viewed by the public. This proved
very helpful in improving police-public relationship.

1967-72 - While working at the CBI, he took a leading hand in
evolving the technique of investigation for different types of white-collar
crimes and methodologies for technical assistance to the investigating officers
of the CBI.

1974 - The all-India Railway Strike that was organised in April 1974 by
some trade union leaders posed serious problems of transport and communication
that had to be tackled by severe measures under the Defence of India Act, all
over India. They had to be carefully
planned, coordinated and got implemented by State agencies.
C.V. Narasimhan, as Joint Secretary to Government, personally handled this
enormous work of coordination effectively to get over the strike and restore
normalcy within a week.

1974 - For the first time in
the legislative history of the country Preventive Detention Act was resorted to
in September 1974 in a country wide sweep to detain all top smugglers whose
activities had posed danger to the economic stability of the country.
Here again, C.V. Narasimhan bore the brunt of responsibility for
initiating the special legislation on an emergency footing with due secrecy of
operations which proved a big success.

1975 - When a nation wide state of emergency was proclaimed by the
President in June 1975 in the then existing political situation, C.V. Narasimhan
had to handle the enormous load of coordinating and directing field operations for maintenance of public order, essential services and supplies in
all the States. He did this
remarkably well, which earned him high praise from the government.

1977 - He led the Indian delegation to Interpol conference at
Stockholm
and chaired a crucial session where he succeeded in evolving a
consensus on a smooth procedure for international co-operation in the
investigation of economic crimes.

He handled with great integrity and professional
efficiency the high profile criminal cases against Indira Gandhi after her
electoral defeat and ouster from Prime Minister’s post.
The investigations done under his directions stood the scrutiny by
courts.

Compilation of eight comprehensive reports of the NPC in 1979-81
projecting fundamental police reforms, principally to insulate the police system
from political interference and make it professionally efficient and people
oriented. Though the political
leaders were reluctant to implement these far-reaching reforms which would deny
them the extraneous control over the police, the Supreme Court of India
delivered a historic judgement in September 2006 directing expeditious
implementation of NPC recommendations. C.V. Narasimhan’s
professional mission was thus vindicated at the highest judicial forum.

1983 - On the eve of his retirement from
service he compiled a comprehensive Vigilance Manual for the guidance of
investigating officers of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption in
Tamil Nadu. It was the first
Manual of its kind in the State and even today continues to be used as a highly
valuable guide
by the field officers.

He generated interest at the
NationalPoliceAcademy
and among police researchers to make studies for evolving objective norms to
evaluate police performance at the ground level as actually perceived and
experienced by the public, distinct from a self-assessed statistical
presentation from the commanding levels.

( i ) Compilation of a ‘Hand book of Law for police officers’ in 1991
which was issued as a Central government publication as a reference book for all
police stations in
India
.

( ii ) As a member of Justice Ramanujam Committee in Tamil Nadu in
1996-1997 formulation of several substantial measures for administrative reforms
and prevention of corruption.

( iii ) Served as a member of Justice Sadashiva Panel of inquiry in
1999-2003 which examined serious allegations of police excesses and high-handed
behaviour in some remote villages under the guise of anti-terrorist operations
on Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border. His
meticulous and painstaking analysis of the documented ‘evidence’ of police
encounters exposed the excesses and secured a record payment of compensation of
about Rs 5 crore to the victims, from the two State governments.

( iv ) Functioned as an active Trustee of the Citizen Consumer &
Civic Action Group in Chennai for 18 years from 1987 and effectively dealt with
several matters concerning consumer protection.

( v
) Honorary
work in the field of education, organising training programmes for school
teachers and personality development camps for school children. From 1991 he has
been functioning as Chairman of two reputed educational charities in Chennai
running 24 schools in and around the city, providing first class education to
children from low-income families.